It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Dan Rather has done some amazing reports on H-1B and H-2B foreign guest workers being imported to displace U.S. citizens. Unfortunately he is on HD.net, now AxS, a cable channel not carried extensively. Below is a report on U.S. citizens being replaced with foreign guest workers. The stories contained within represent hundreds of thousands of Americans being displaced from their careers every day.
No Thanks For Everything
Foreign guest workers literally outnumber U.S. technical workers, that's how extreme the throw away the Americans agenda has been. Rather wrote a an overview on the situation.
Recent research shows the number of STEM students graduating each year from U.S. universities far exceeds the number of new jobs.
And while U.S. corporations decry the shortage of tech talent -- industry data indicates there are upwards of 200,000 tech workers unemployed across the country today. Even with this glut of job-seekers, companies say the talent shortage is SO acute that they are forced to import foreign labor from overseas.
Over the past year, Dan Rather Reports has done a series of programs about the foreign labor force brought here by a vast array of U.S companies ostensibly to do jobs they can't find Americans to fill. Using an alphabet soup of special temporary work visas, employers have imported millions of foreign workers -- from hotel housekeepers to farm laborers to software engineers. It's part of the federal guest worker system and it's perfectly legal.
Most people --- including guest workers -- might assume that if a U.S. company decides to sponsor a person to come here on work visa, they must have tried to hire an American first. But that's not the necessarily the case. According to U.S. Department of Labor, a guest worker visa known as H-1B for "specialty occupations" especially tech workers -- may be issued "even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job." In fact, the bulletin notes, "A U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker."
The next video focuses more on offshore outsourcing and yes Americans are being fired. Pay closed attention to these interviews. These are highly skilled, years of experience U.S. Citizen Scientists and Engineers. Yes, the minute you hear win-win, that does mean you will lose-lose, big time.
Help Wanted! Not Here
Rather also put up a website trying to obtain government data on H-2B foreign guest workers. Yes folks, even with almost 28 million unemployed, we are importing unskilled labor to take American jobs.
Thank Dan Rather and his team for digging around in this. Corporations don't want you to know about the never ending U.S. worker displacement going on. Kind of ridiculous for anyone not in a pine box knows at least one person this has happened to, if not to themselves.
Comments
And the powers-that-be convince people to fight for the crumbs
I'm most disappointed in the attitudes you will find in many mainstream sites, Linkedin, etc. where the people won't say, "The system is being designed and implemented so that the guy without the political power and bankroll is purposely being ignored, fired, and destroyed" by both parties and companies. Instead, if you say that, despite all the years you put in education and working, possible military service, many people will say, "Shhh, companies don't have to give you a good job, you should shut up and beg harder for a treat and not make waves. Even if it's an internship for nothing at 40 or 50, treat it as a prize!"
I understand some people feel that way, but really, shouldn't that be a small minority of people at this point, or as times get tougher through others' actions and policies, we see many people's true nature in that if they stay small and quiet and don't make any noise, they may catch a falling crumb? Maybe they hope to be the last one to draw the ire of one of the "best and brightest," "masters of the universe," "our political betters," and "job creators." Go to Linkedin for a taste of this. It's sad when unemployed people are constantly told to stop whining, don't criticize companies or govt. policies because they won't get hired ever, and toe the US of Fortune 500 line by other unemployed, so-called "career and resume experts," and corporate shills.
I'm sorry, but if someone did everything they were supposed to do, busted their ass, and has a family to feed or is single and can move anywhere and everywhere but is still deemed unemployable because he/she's a threat to mediocre management, too old, too young, not a candidate for cheap labor here or abroad, etc., at what point do these people think someone can protest for his right to and earn a living wage and thrive in his own country (or at least survive)? And if these people wind up homeless, the clods would call them lazy. But trying to do everything possible to work hard and fight for America so that one never has to rely on others while also helping fellow citizens is wrong? Interesting . . .
Anyone who says we should accept our planned demise - well, go tell that to a vet, or a STEM worker, or someone who sees his kids starving every day or sees corporate dolts eliminating qualified people because no one should be "too smart." The sad/funny thing is many of these same people who say these things nowadays regarding company, visas, outsourcing and other destructive policies should be accepted and we should all shut up are the same ones who say they would stand up and take on oppressive regimes in the past and stand up for their neighbors and protect the innocent (e.g., Nazi Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union, etc.). Sure they would, they are afraid to challenge HR or govt. policies anonymously in America today, but they'd stand up to authoritarian regimes with guns? Yeah, okay.
linked in
I don't see the point of linked in frankly. It's way harder to use than a regular mailing list for discussions, or simply put up a forum site, but that's just me, I never saw the real point to Facebook either. We all have linked in profiles because everybody else has a linked in profile, but consider who is searching the site and what it is for, I'm not surprised to see major denial on H-1B, worker displacement and all of this. People are in fear for their lives trying to get a job.
Folks, these reports should have millions of viewers
I hope you share this on Facebook, reddit, slashdot, linkedin, etc. America needs to watch these report segments and we should see millions of hits on youtube. They watch some puppy video and not this? Come on.
This is a hot topic, yet both Romney and Obama are completely gun-ho to increase foreign guest workers in this country as well as offshore outsource even more jobs. You need to raise this up to the level of a major campaign issue, as in, if you don't do something to stop this, you ain't gonna be President of the United States.
Excellent report
The American Express lady summed up in one quiet sentence why globalization is evil.
"Those guys were telling me that they can support a family, hire a nanny, hire a driver, on the $10,000 that AmEx is paying them."
American workers used to be able to hire nannies and support a family.
But because OUR money is leaking into India instead of CIRCULATING in our country, our workers can't afford anything.
We wouldn't run a water system with half the water escaping into the ground; why do we run an entire economy that way?